Sioux Falls Argus-Leader Editorial

[The Sicatoka]

Yes, the game was a sell-out. No, the place did not fill.

Yes, you can choose to not believe me or a friend (and box owner, excuse me, "corporate client") of mine. But yes, the local media reported on open seats. (You don't believe Jack Michaels, or do you?)

Sorry, I don't have a dog.

Again, yes, they sold 19042. No, they didn't all show up to fill the seats.

Filling a stadium doesn't seem to help NDSU's on-field performance of late, why would it matter up north? It's all about on field performance to get the Ws and Ls.

And so what if Roger goes to games? He's the AD, he's supposed to. And so what if he becomes an honorary member of the Green Hair'em and dons the quaff.

They've also come up with a solution to the viewing problem as well. (Ask your dog about it. He'll give you all of the details.)

[JBB]

roger is a joke, he humiliated himself.

your dog could mean many things. Maybe you were "walking the dog".

the thing about most ADs is the fact that they don't go to games wearing green wigs and trying to relate to the kids in an effort to save the Corporate Customer Base. It was a joke! A very funny one for those of us not too close. It painted thomas in the right light.

Its $. Follow the Benjamans. The Blue seats were worth just as much as the Gold ones Baby. Looking forward to all of your $s next year too! Of course youll be too busy yapping about NDSU cant afford D1 and they will be sorry if they try.

What do you think youll draw tommorrow? My guess 10,000.

[tnt]

Just the fact that BisonGuy is constantly preoccupied with the Sioux shows the impetus for the Bison's move to Division 1. Be sure to keep visiting this sight over the next 20 years or so and update us on each and every Bison win. Wait, that won't take that long. First loss to Augie in 40 years, first loss to South Dakota in 15 years, first loss to the UND women's volleyball team in 26 years, yeah, now would be a good time to get out of Division 2, because you certainly can't win at this level. At least if you keep losing at the Division 1 level you can brag about how great the competition is. That is all! I have nothing left to say, because I, unlike Bisonguy am not preoccupied with NDSU. We have way too much going on for us to spend time worrying about their visions of grandeur, because we are living a division 1 bonanza already.

[bisonguy]

tnt,

Maybe you should consider decaf in the morning. Since you're new, I'll fill you in. I AM A FAN OF NORTH DAKOTA SPORTS. Yes, I am a Bison fan first and foremost, but in the absence of NDSU, I cheer and am a fan of UND. Remember that this is called a DISCUSSION BOARD. Without a differing opinion, it would not be a discussion, but more like clapping with one hand.

I forgot the fact that NDSU had a crystal ball when making the D1 decision, and knew that football and VB would not be having a good year. I guess last year's one national championship and two national runner-ups are the signs of an athletic program in the dumps.

D1 Bonanza? Seeing as how you must frequent this sort of restaurant, we'll use it as an example. D1 hockey is the over-tenderized, insipid steak you get there. D1 is the whole menu. UND is far from having a "Bonanza", but it does have one course.

[Rick]

Its $. Follow the Benjamans. The Blue seats were worth just as much as the Gold ones Baby. Looking forward to all of your $s next year too! Of course youll be too busy yapping about NDSU cant afford D1 and they will be sorry if they try.

What do you think youll draw tommorrow? My guess 10,000.

Those blue seats were plentiful yesterday as 8,541 "Screaming Yellow" fans attended a homecoming game. The question now becomes.....will there be Benjamans tied to those seats in future years, or will they just be empty blue seats. My guess is that those empty blue seats won't bring in one Benjaman in future years and they certainly won't be buying any cokes and hotdogs. I say that because those people who used to buy those cokes and hotdogs at the FargoDome will be buying them at Engelstad Arena.

If I had my choice, I would take 11,368 homecoming fans in a 13,000 seat arena over 8,541 fans in a 19,000 seat arena. Ouch, that's a lot of blue.

BTW, what were the "screaming yellow" fans yelling at the opponent this time?

Note to Dr. Chapman: Paint the seats yellow, it will make it harder for guys like Sicatoka to pick out the empty seats.

[The Sicatoka]

My guess 10,000.

NDSU Homecoming: 8541

UND Homecoming: 11300+

[choyt3]

NDSU Homecoming: 8541

UND Homecoming: 11300+

"more than enough fans left in the Prestigious Tailgate areas to fill the Fabulous Fargo Dome."

Sicatoka, I imagine you'll get some sort of reply that includes something like this.

Yeah, and it's not UND fans that push the attendance up at the Sioux/Bison games. OK.

[JBB]

I was about 1,000 off my guess for your homecoming bash. Good game.

The 8,500 NDSU had was something of a disappointment, but we werent playing one of the best teams in the conference. We were playing the worst team.

We will wait and see how many come to the SCSU game in the Fabulous Fargo Dome, the most Prestigious Football Stadium in the State of North Dakota.

My guess is that u n d attendance is going to be dropping off about as fast as the sue soxers title hopes. YOu got a little revival after upsetting SDSU. Remember this, NDSU football was headed for the tank last year, you guys were national champs. Now your not even under consideration for possible second alternate. Thats a long way to fall. Now your going to find out just how hard you hit. Theres going to be a lot of empty seats in Grand Forks now that the reality of your teams future has sunk in.

[The Sicatoka]

Now your not even under consideration for possible second alternate. Thats a long way to fall. Now your going to find out just how hard you hit. Theres going to be a lot of empty seats .... now that the reality of your teams future has sunk in.

Careful. A lot of those words are just waiting to spin back and bite you.

PS - Thanks for warming up the engine in the "also ran" car for us a couple of weeks early.

[star2city]

From Tuesday's Sioux Falls Argus-Leader:

SDSU leans toward moving to Division I

SDSU continues to state that they will not move without a conference. But even the commissioner of the Mid-Continent Conference, which has very low hurdles for admission, has reservations about adding any school that could not compete in national tournaments for five years.

Currently, SDSU sees three conferences as the closest and most compatible - the Big Sky Conference, the Mid-Continent Conference and the Horizon League.

....

"The Big Sky's posture is that right now they're not interested in expansion," Oien said. "But there's reason to believe that they might be looking at expansion or replacement in the near future."

Another possibility is the Mid-Continent, a Chicago-based league known for basketball that includes Valparaiso, Western Illinois, Oral Roberts, Southern Utah and Chicago State.

Last Thursday, commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher was in Shreveport, La., to formally announce Centenary College as the conference's ninth member.

"My experience is that you never say never with regard to new members," Steinbrecher said.

"We have a membership goal of getting to at least 10 schools, but we'd have to look at each (applicant) from a strategic point of view. In terms of who that next member is, how do they make us a better conference?

"One of the issues that would be a challenge (with SDSU) is that they'll be four or five years away from being eligible to compete in national tournaments."

That's one of the many hurdles that makes finding a new home in Division I such a complex task. But the times are changing in college sports, and Oien wants to be ahead of the game.

"If we do make the leap, we're not interested in just making the move," he said. "We're interested in making the move and preparing ourselves for success."

[JBB]

The Fargo Forum is reporting today that the SDSU move is a certainty. The Argus Leader has also come to that conclusion.

The conference issue is interesting. Its going to work itself out, of that Im sure. But what about the future?

Its unlikely that UND will remain D2 for too many more years. There may be no conference opportunities left?

If SDSU and NDSU are accepted into the Big Sky it will full without a wholsale reorganization. A new conference maybe? Who will be UNDs travel partner in that endevor?

The door may be closing on any kind of smooth transition for the sue soxers.

[jimdahl]

Its unlikely that UND will remain D2 for too many more years. There may be no conference opportunities left?

I think NDSU's failure to secure a conference affiliation does teach UND a good lesson. While I'm a moderate supporter of UND moving (it's tough to know because we don't have all the information yet), we definitely shouldn't make NDSU's mistake of jumping without a conference affiliation.

How can UND possibly conduct an honest cost assessment without even knowing who the opponents will be/where the games will be played?

[JBB]

I think your jumping to a conclusion now. How do you know something isnt worked out or highly probable? NDSU doesnt enter its provisional year until next season. I believe when the time comes an affiliation will be announced.

[jimdahl]

I think your jumping to a conclusion now. How do you know something isnt worked out or highly probable? NDSU doesnt enter its provisional year until next season. I believe when the time comes an affiliation will be announced.

I said NDSU jumped without a conference affiliation. NDSU indisputably moved to D-IAA without a conference affiliation secured -- no "jumping to conclusions" involved.

You seem to be attempting to prove me wrong by substituing for my actual statements the ridiculous claim that NDSU will never have a conference affiliation. Clearly NDSU will join some conference eventually, most likely within a year or two.

I stand by my original statement (with which you seem to agree, judging by your quote to which I was responding) -- jumping without a conference affiliation is a mistake that we both hope UND doesn't make.

[bisonguy]

Jim,

The consensus of the conferences NDSU was talking to was that they will ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOW A SCHOOL TO JOIN that is not a D1 school already. They all have been burned by schools that said they were going D1, and then backed out. This causes the conferences huge problems with scheduling. If UND goes D1 down the road, I highly doubt they will be allowed into a conference until they have both feet in the D1 pool.

[jimdahl]

From NDSU's own Carr Associates report:

[The Sicatoka]

The report to NDSU from CSL:

http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/news/divisi...I_MarketRes.pdf

My favorite section:

Based on the results of the feasibility study, Carr Sports Associates Inc. concluded that the Division I transition process should begin after NDSU has achieved the following:

[JBB]

It

[jimdahl]

How do you know what the conference situation is with NDSU?  We know an announcement has not been made but that doesn

[The Sicatoka]

I only know what Gene Taylor told the State (via television) at halftime of the Sioux-Bison game: Taylor said that NDSU is still looking for a conference.

If they had the last piece of that critical Carr/CSL action item list (mission, market survey, strategic plan, conference), why in the world wouldn't it be shown off?

[JBB]

Has it ever occurred to any of you that some times deals are not announced until all details are in place? Of course NDSU hasn

[jimdahl]

Again, you're responding to the fantasies in your own head instead of what we actually wrote. No one said anything about the lack of an announcement (which I agree, doesn't indicate anything). In fact, we both cited specific instances of NDSU announcing that they didn't have a conference affiliation.

FACT: NDSU did not have a conference affiliation secured at the time they announced the move to D-IAA. They said so. Are you claiming they lied?

NDSU is clearly working on getting an affiliation, and hopefully has a lot of interest or even something nearly lined up by now. That has nothing to do with our statements that NDSU moved without any sort of conference affiliation agreement, like UC Davis has.

[The Sicatoka]

OK, I'll play.

Posit: NDSU has a conference affiliation all signed, sealed, and delivered.

Why not announce it? NDSU doesn't want to admit who they have the deal with? The conference doesn't want to state they've added a team? Why not announce the deal?

[jimdahl]

Sic-

It's actually pretty easy to discern the confusion here. JBB has heard some rumors of NDSU's negotiations, perhaps that a deal is even nearly worked out. Maybe JBB's daddy even works for NDSU.

In his excitement and argumentativeness, he's lost track of chronology (a deal tomorrow does not mean a deal was worked out in the past, when NDSU announced the move to D-IAA). Just so he can continue to argue, he also ignores what a completed deal means. After droning on and on about how NDSU does have a secret deal that we don't know about, he finishes with the note that the details just aren't in place yet (which is exactly what you were claiming, that a deal has not been completed).

[The Sicatoka]

jim:

I've heard words about conversations and meetings too. But when it comes to "rumors" or "sources," I've always had a preference for ink on paper.